Saturday, November 17, 2012

Meanwhile in Japan, for lack of anything worthwhile to do in that part of Japan (Kansai), Nara Prefectural Police arrested a man for "not working, even though he has an ability to work and he has no income, and loitering, without no fixed abode". According to the public servants at the prefectural police, that's against the Minor Offenses Act (Article 1 Item 4), the law in Japan to protect the social order.

The article linked above is from "Bengoshi (Attorney) dotcom", and you would think they would be outraged.

[Comment by one of the member attorneys of bengoshi dotcom] Loitering in itself has an anti-social element, and the point [of the Minor Offenses Act] is to strictly control loitering because it tends to be associated with criminal acts. If one is not sick, but is drunk in the middle of the day and wandering around in town, it is threatening to the citizens.

Even if there is no malicious intent on the person who wanders about without a job, it is possible that some people, including children, feel threatened. From the standpoint of maintaining the public order, therefore, it can be said that there was no choice [but to arrest the person].

Oh yes, it's for the kids. For the most part, the Japanese readers are highly approving of the police arresting this good-for-nothing man walking about during the daytime without a job and a home. What a caring society.

(I feel threatened when I see a package of green tea from Japan. Should I have the green tea arrested?)

Speaking of that part of Japan, Kansai, the boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City, who is now the deputy head of the party joined by Shintaro Ishihara for the national election, will start a test burn of the disaster debris from Iwate at the city's incineration plant designed by a world-famous anti-nuclear architect. The test burn will be on November 24.

A ship that carries 10 containers full of debris chips has departed Miyako Port in Iwate Prefecture on November 18, Iwate Nippo reports.

11
comments:

Anonymous
said...

NICE! So as long as you have a job blowing up nuclear reactors you can threaten all the people you like (children included). Arresting people for not having a job sounds like something they would do back is the Stalin era of the USSR. Also most crime is committed at night wouldn't it make more sense to roust the hobos after the sun goes down? How far away is the day when they start arresting vagrants and carting them off to Fukushima for work detail?

People there behaved the same way, when the secret police arrested a person for practically the same reason before and during the World War II. The reasoning was, "Since he was arrested, he must be a bad person, he must have done something bad, he is a Communist...he deserves to get arrested...etc. etc."

Well, Japan has some 99% conviction rate, which means that judges and courts are close to superfluous: the police decides whether you are guilty and judges mostly ratify.Then of course from time to time cases surface whereby someone was jailed for 10,20 years because the police chose to ignore part of the evidence (DNA analisys for example).Also, it is said that the Japanese police knows very well those who are part of organized crime but you seldom see large scale arrests. They prefer to work on some drunkard who has done nothing bad besides looking miserable.Beppe

@4:24 Well, USA is also renown for easily convicting people who can not afford a proper lawyer -- besides not doing a convincing job with those who shoot its presidents.Japan also has a proper and affordable health system, at least until now, and when there are elections you get your voting certificate delivered at home automatically. In Japan very very few people owns firearms and you can walk safely in the night in most areas.In these areas Japan qualifies as more humane and democratic than the USA, I think.Beppe

"Since he was arrested, he must be a bad person, he must have done something bad, he is a Communist...he deserves to get arrested...etc. etc."^ That sounds like something my mother would say.

Cops in general tend to pick on the little people and ignore the big criminals, either because they're friends with the big criminals or because they'e lazy as shit.

Law enforcement is always looking for potential criminals to use as examples and to prove that they're doing something useful. Law enforcement only exist because of criminals. They would have no purpose if everyone behaved. I'd imagine that in a society where people are less likely to commit crimes, the law enforcement would be desperate to convict anyone who so much as steps into a courtroom.

I think politeness in every country is often fake. It's just that Japanese culture is more polite than other countries, and because it's used so often, it loses its meaning. For example, the politeness of the Japanese is immediately refreshing to non-Japanese, but to the Japanese themselves, it's expected and typical.

Anyway, as I often say... comparing doesn't justify or improve anything. What we should be doing is focusing on and identifying all the problems, then trying to solve them instead of being concerned over which country is "better".

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

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